In one of the huts nearest to the main building several Infernape-morphs were talking softly about Grace's plan.
"I don't know," one of them said, "It sounds dangerous."
"It's either that or staying here and getting beaten every day," another replied.
"Besides," a third added, "everyone else is going along with it. If they fail we all pay, so we might as well make sure they don't fail."
A shadow slipped inside, causing them to jump. The morph who had just spoken jabbed his stun-gun at the figure, who barely missed getting hit.
"Whoa, hold on there! Grace sent me," the figure exclaimed quietly.
The Infernape-morphs squinted at the figure, Jeff, who was standing still with his hands held up in a peace gesture.
"Well, you look like her," one of them finally said, "Do you have the goods?"
"Yep," Jeff pulled out the stun-guns that were hidden on his person and handed them to the other morphs. "Grace also says to remember to sneak up on the guards because we probably won't be able to handle all of them at once."
"Got it."
Jeff nodded and slipped out, leaving the morphs to figure out how to get the stun-guns to the others.
The moon finally set, leaving the world in a darkness eased only by the fitful twinkling light of stars as wisps of clouds passed in front of them. It was time to move. Grace briefly considered using the hole in the roof from where she had escaped last time, but decided against it. Tonight there wasn't any rain to cover her, and the guards probably had orders to watch her hut carefully in case she tried to escape again.
Once the guard had passed Grace slipped outside and into the shadows between the huts. With a stealth born of practice she slipped between huts and across paths until she was at the base of the same watchtower she had climbed to escape. There was no one else climbing it, so she began scaling the wall. It was much easier than last time, since there was no rain to make the wall slick. Once she got to the top she carefully made her way to the other side and peeked over the edge. Two guards were standing at the corners, staring into the compound. She edged over to one side and pulled out the one stun-gun she had kept. Slowly and carefully, she pulled herself up until she could see the guard's bored expression. With a quick jab she hit him with the stun-gun. He went stiff for a moment before slumping over. She caught him before he hit the floor and draped him over the edge of the wall before pulling herself over. The other guard heard her and turned around.
"What the..."
Grace's fist collided soundly with his temple, rendering him unconscious. As he crumpled to the ground she pulled the other guard to the floor and looked around. All the watchtowers she could see were being silently taken over by morphs. Excellent. Now all they had to deal with were the guards on the ground.
Ignoring the trapdoor that led to the stairs the guards used, Grace silently went over the wall and climbed down. The stairs probably led to a tunnel that ran straight into the main building, and that was one of the last places she wanted to go right now. As she ghosted between huts she heard a shout. There were more shouts and a klaxon began going off.
"Crap," Grace muttered under her breath.
"What's going on?" Marie asked over the mike.
"Something went wrong and the alarm's going off. Get everyone over here as fast as possible."
"On it."
Grace started running towards where the shouts had come from. "Jeff, what's going on?"
There was a long pause before Jeff answered. "I don't know. As soon as the alarm started going off they came in, hit me over the head, and dragged me down to the boiler room. I'm trying to find a way out, but it looks like everything's reinforced."
"Just do what you can."
Grace arrived at the scene. Morphs and grunts were mingled together in one tumultuous mass, trying to kill or at least disable each other. Most of the grunts looked like they had just rolled out of bed, but a few were more than adequately prepared. Almost all of them had guns, but refrained from using them in case they hit a comrade. The morphs were doing a good job of using their training against the very ones who had trained them. More grunts were trickling from the buildings, though, and the morphs were already outnumbered.
"Marie, how close are you?"
"We're about ready to dock. How's it going over there?"
"Not good. We're outnumbered and there's more coming by the minute."
There was a pause before Marie responded. "We've just docked. Help will be there any minute."
"Great."
With that Grace joined the fray, fighting her way towards a small group that was about to be overwhelmed. Shouts announced the arrival of the other morphs, who eagerly joined the fight. Grace soon found herself back to back with Clarence.
"OK, Grace, you're the leader. What do we do?" he asked.
"Right now, try to stay alive and get everyone together if possible. I'll come up with a plan once I get a better idea of what we're up against."
"Gotcha."
Together they began working their way towards another group. About halfway there Clarence suddenly grabbed Grace and pulled her to the ground. A large something flew over them. Grace sat up just in time to see a Snorlax-morph, curled up into a ball, crash into a group of grunts.
"Strike!" Clarence yelled.
As the Snorlax-morph unrolled Grace gave him a thumbs-up. He replied with one of his own before starting to lash out with big, meaty fists.
"Grace, where are you?" Marie asked over the mike.
"In the middle of it all. Where else would I be?"
"If you can, look at the main building."
Grace risked a glance in that direction. "Crap."
"What is it?" Jeff asked.
"There's a huge group gathering right outside the building you're in. If they all come in at once we're as good as finished."
There was a long silence over the mike, then a sharp burst of static followed almost immediately by a huge explosion. Everyone covered their heads as shrapnel, the remains of the main building, began raining down.
"Jeff?" Silence. "Jeff, are you still alive?"
"Oh Jeff," Marie whispered.
"Jeff was in there, wasn't he," Clarence said quietly.
"Yeah," Grace replied.
"I guess all we can do is make sure he didn't die in vain."
Grace nodded, and they began fighting even harder. The morphs began clustering in larger groups, and Grace was able to call out directions to them. Slowly, the battle began turning in the morphs' favor. Then Grace saw a lone figure slip off towards the docks.
"Try to keep everyone together," she told Clarence.
"What will you be doing?"
"I'm going to say hi to an old acquaintance," Grace replied before taking off, weaving in between grunts and morphs and never taking her eyes off her quarry.
A Team Rocket member slipped behind one of the few buildings still standing and caught his breath before bolting towards the dock, whip swinging on his belt. If he could just make it to the dock he could take off in one of the motorboats and the morphs would never catch him. As reached the path that led down to the water a figure landed in front of him, forcing him to skid to a stop.
"And where do you think you're going?" Grace asked, eyes narrowing as she glared daggers at the one who was responsible for taking the skin off her back multiple times.
"Out of my way," the man growled, pulling out his whip and swinging it at her. Grace held up her arm, letting the whip wrap around her wrist before pulling it from the man's grasp.
"That was the last time you'll ever swing this," Grace said as she started advancing.
The man's cries for help were lost in the noise of battle as the fight wore on.
Fun fact: the scene with the Snorlax-morph (who's name is Nate, by the way) was requested by one of my brothers, who's official nickname is Snorlax.
